sugar beet

shadowfax1967

shadowfax1967

New Member
Aug 29, 2008
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south wales
Hi
can anyone tell me if sugar beet makes horses fizzy i have heard so many stories i want to feed it to my mare this winter as she is an outdoor pony and ive been told it keeps weight on them but if it will make her fizzy i cant as my daughter also rides her.
 
yes it does make then a little bright .
I have my 3yo on it as he hard to keep weight on she been off work for two weeks as have moved yards but im dreading getting back on her it will be like a rodeo hahahaha:eek:
 
Molassed Sugar Beet is full of sugar and will make her a bit fizzy. Speedie Beet of Simple System Purabeet are totally unmolassed and should be ok.

If you can't get unmolassed sugar beet you can soak it and then keep rinsing it until the water is clear, that way you still have a very high fibre feed but without the sugar.
 
Mine went complete loopy on Easibeet which is allegedly unmolassed.
Turned into complete psycho horse within a couple of days.
I did try it twice in case something else was going on as I wanted to feed it help with weight in the winter and the same happened.
He's a Tb however he is absolutely fine with a conditioning mix which you would expect to make him sharp.
Most horses would react the other way round.
 
As others have said, speedi beet. It has 95% of the sugar removed AND can be fed to laminitics, however, ALWAYS "read the label" to ensure that you are buying the rite one.

My WB is can be Kevin prone (never nasty) and has had the SB added to his winter feed since i have had him (3.5yrs) and it has no effect on him in the "fizz" dept.:)
 
I have been feeding Speedibeet for ages, which is great - but hubby offered to include sugarbeet for the ponies in with his farm order (so I don't have to pay!). However, this is the usual shreds (24 hour soak) with molasses. Fine for my ancient Sec A, who always needs more condition on him and at his age he is happy just to be able to enjoy life, but obviously I would not want to give this to the other ponies (2 fatties and a Sec A driving pony). It is suggested above that if you keep on soaking it until the water runs clear, then it would be ok. Is this right? I would only give them a tiny amount with their Hilton Herbs - or if I go onto a balancer next month, the driving pony would perhaps have some when he is doing long drives.

Ali xx
 
I feed my TB speedi beet - not noticed any 'performance' difference - but great for keeping condition.

THink they all react differently to different ingredients - its a 'try it and see' situation really!
 
Sugar beet doesn't always make horses fizzy! - it depends how much is fed (most people feed quite small quantities), what it's fed with, and of course with the individual horse and its care and exercise routine. Sugar beet is technically a heating feed and apparently its energy value is similar to oats. However, in oats the energy comes from starch (which makes it fast-acting and fizz-giving) whereas in sugar beet the energy comes from digestible fibre, which makes it slow-releasing energy rather than immediate "fizz". Unmolassed sugar beet is even better, as it has most of the sugar removed and is just fibre and pulp. I read an article once which said 10lb of unmolassed sugar beet contains the same amount of sugar as a bushel of apples! It also tends to contain LESS energy than many cereal mixes on the market.

So to the OP - I would say that it depends on your mare and her routine. You say she's an outdoor pony, so by (a) moving around and (b) trying to keep warm she will be burning off the majority of her feed anyway! In terms of keeping warmth and weight throughout the winter I think your mare could benefit from a bit of sugarbeet in her diet. It's a great source of fibre and can sometimes be used as a partial replacement for hay.
 
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Why not try Alfa beet, its made by dengie. I feed it to my mare, who can get fizzy very easily and I was stuggling to get weight on her. She's now been on it for about a month and a half and is still chilled and has actually got a bit too fat now so I've had to reduce the amount I feed, and I'm still on my first bag!
 
i feed good old fashioned sugarbeet to all my horses who live out, it hasnt made a difference to mac apart from weight gain, well they have all put on weight which is good, i feed it as they live out and to keep them warm, also as mine need the weight on, i wouldnt feed it if my horse was stabled through the winter but as they live out it doesnt seam to fizz them up
 
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